King Crimson always has and always will be right up there near the top of my favorite rock bands list. My favorite LPs are [in order] Lizard, Islands and Starless. The King Crimson Collector Club releases are pretty amazing also.

Pretty much the best prog band in existance. I spotted a re-release (never heard about it anywhere) of In the Court of the Crimson King at some local shop, was a real bargain too (20EUR). Was pretty funny seeing King Crimson and U2 (not putting them in the same category, mind you) right next to a flood of Lady GaGa's and Kanye Wests.

Red is all kinds of good, whilst Starlesss might just be the most perfect 12 minutes of music ever written.

^ That is a perfectly constructed song, especially the build towards Mel Collin's immaculate honking. I've got to give "Fractured" at slight edge, though, particularly at the end when the whole line-up comes together.

(Back from two weeks in India, been home three seconds, already on MB. I'm sad...)

I'd give "The Great Deceiver" the title of King Crimson's best song. It doesn't sound like anything else I've ever heard. Good thing, mind.

In The Court Of The Crimson King is a beast, yeah.
The lyrics on Epitaph are brilliant, along with the music on the entire album.

Hello, I have for a longer time some songs from comp for beginners.

Today I was finally in mood for some all albums so I listened Red and In the court... It's really good. Don't know why I didn't find it sooner.

I discovered so many great music on this forum :bowdown: Thanks!

"In the Court of the Crimson King" Is up there with Pink Floyd's "The Wall" as one of the greatest Prog albums ever!

I adore Pink Floyd.

I've never even heard of King Crimson.


From the sounds of everyone's posts, I've been missing out heavily. This saddens me.

So if I were to get random and buy an album off, say... iTunes.. What would be a good album to download? Keep in mind that I'm a Pink Floyd nutter.. annnnd Go!

They're not very Pink Floydy and are a bit harder to get into and their albums differ in style a lot. In the early years, they went through a lot of line-up changes, were highly experimental and didn't want to make the same album twice. Still, an album you can't go wrong with when it comes to them is their debut, In the Court of the Crimson King, from 1969. It's regarded as an immortal prog classic and is, without a doubt, their most famous release.

After that, I like Red from 1974, but it's quite different.

Here are the first tracks from both albums (both KC classics)!

"21st Century Schizoid Man" from In the Court of the Crimson King :




And "Red" from Red :



edit :

By the way, there are plenty of KC album reviews on the site. Check out the album review index under the letter K to find them :) Or just click here :

http://www.musicbanter.com/album-rev...tml#post607929

Seltzer is our most dedicated KC reviewer I believe when it comes to sheer amount of pure info in his reviews and if you'd like to check out their later stuff, Anteater's review of THRAK (an interesting album) was also excellent!

While I think that In the Court of the Crimson King (an Observation by King Crimson) is definitely their best album and Red a close second, In the Wake of Poseidon is underappreciated. Especially "Cat Food"

I only got their debut, but it's ****ing brilliant. Where should I go next?

Slowly I am getting into them :) Really a lot of what to explore.
I am in love with song Epitaph and all debut album is great. For other albums I need more time.

If you want something similar in style. In the Wake of Poseidon is ITCOTCK part 2 basically, pretty much the same style, but it's very good in it's own right and doesn't get as much respect as it deserves.

Though the next best KC album is Red, followed by Lizard and Discipline. Larks Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, Thrak and Power to Believe are all great as well. I'm also rather fond of Three of a Perfect Pair but that's one people either love or hate.

I really don't consider any Crimson album less than decent, though ConstrucKtion of Light is their worst.

I have:
In the Court
In the Wake
Lizard
Red
Discipline
B'Boom
The Power to Believe
The Great Deceiver (song)
Easy Money (song)

None of it is bad. At all. Actually, all of it is pretty darn good. I love it.

If I had to rank them:
In the Court > Red > B'boom > Lizard > Discipline > In the Wake

And I give In the Wake 4 stars easy. So yeah, I don't have a problem with any of it.

Favorite songs: The Court of the Crimson King, Cirkus, Lizard (mostly Bolero <3) Red, Starless, Frame by Frame, Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream, and The Power to Believe II.

This is by far my favorite band, and they basically got me into progressive rock. Lizard was my first prog disk, and although it's probably their least consistent, I still adore it.

My fave would be ITCOTCK but second is the live 'Earthbound', which rarely gets a mention. The recording is not great but performance is hot!

I have a cassette I did of it and filled it in with the Chieftains' "An raibh tu ag an gcarraig" ...... it is an amazing contrast, like the calm after a storm.

My BF's roommate just got In the Court... on LP.
It's a damn near religious experience.

Ranked for me:

In the Court... > Red > Discipline > Larks' Tongues in Aspic > Starless & Bible Black > Three of a Perfect Pair > In the Wake... > THRAK > Beat > Islands > ConstruKCtion of Light > Power to Believe > Lizard

King Crimson Appreciation Thread
 

I'm a big fan of KC, having lived and studied with Robert Fripp in 1985.
I'm wondering . . . what Crimson era is everyone's favorite.
I really like what they've been doing lately, but I do have a soft spot for Red.

Easily the Fripp, Wetton and Bruford era.

You've lived with Fripp, really?

I must admit I am a bit sceptic, but intrigued as well of course :p: I've often wondered what he's like in person. He seems like a very serious man.

i have their entire studio discography

each one of their albums have their merits, although I must say Lizard and Islands are below par level

He appears very serious and contemplative, which he is to an extent. Though, I've shared a pint or two with him and found a person who liked to 'hang' out and just be an ordinary guy.

You really lived with him? How did that come to be?

What album what you reccomend to someone who hasnt heard anything other than their first album?

The second:)

Red or Lark's Tongue in Aspic

The best should be kept until later, the best way to hear Red is to listen to both Larks Tongues in Aspic and then Starless and Bible Black before it.

King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell is one of my favorite bass players. Here is a song he later on wrote with Bad Company.

^Boz was an absolutely horrible singer for KC. He was so embarrassingly bad, that I wonder if Fripp was going for it purposely? Boz did introduce some very strong groovy rhythm work to the band, that was latter continued by Wetton and Levin.

Their last one The Power to Believe

Red and Starless are just unreal (especially Red) . . . they should be heard.

what do yall think is their best album?

Their next one

The top 5 in this order with the two highlighted as essential.

1. Red
2. In the Court of the Crimson King
3. Starless and Bible Black
4. In the Wake of Poseidan
5. Larks Tongues in Aspic

Don't shy away from the newer stuff it is absolutely awesome!

King Crimson - THRAK.wmv - YouTube

KING CRIMSON DINOSAUR - YouTube

my personal fave is actually Discipline (which I'm sure a lot of KC fans here will disagree with)

objectively? Red, I guess - it has the softer as well as harder stuff

I find Fripp's work during the Discipline era to be outstanding, it was the time I spent with him and it has a place in my heart that has sustained my creativeness to this day.

Well if Frippy's reading this then don't blame me for ripping an Mp3 of The Nightwatch 'cause I can't buy it unless i buy the album and I don't wanna do that.

i like in the wake of poseidon for "pictures of a city". i like their pre-breakup stuff the best, in the 80's they sound like a totally different band, i think its the chapman stick

Since KC are reborn once again this thread should be revived as well.
Has anyone been at the recent shows?
I'm curious as to what people think of the new line-up.
I haven't really heard anything yet, just some snippets. I'm not too happy about Jakko being in the band, he is a good musician, but I always found his singing really bland.
Although Belew on the other hand, despite the fact that I love him as a singer and guitarist, wouldn't really fit into the 70s sound the band seems to want to recreate or at least expand upon.